NO SIZE FITS ALL CLOTHES SHOPPERS NUMBER-CRUNCH IN AN INDUSTRY WHERE VARIATION IS THE COMMON THREAD.

Byline: Candice Choi Staff Writer

What size jeans are you?

It's a loaded question for the scores of women who slide into a size six in one store and struggle to zip up a 10 in another.

That's just why Chatsworth resident Veronica O'Brien said shopping at J.C. Penney makes her feel so great.

``I'm a seven there, even though I'm a nine at Anchor Blue,'' O'Brien said. ``I know I'm the same size, but I still feel thinner.''

Veteran shoppers know their size can oscillate wildly from one store to the next. A size six at J. Crew measures 27 inches; the same size at DKNY Jeans measures 32 inches around the waist. Los Angeles-based chain Forever 21 just made its sizes a little roomier this year, but the biggest numerical size is still a 13.

The idea is not to turn off shoppers by pinning them with unflattering numbers, said Nancy Owens, a professor who specializes in apparel design and human behavior as CSUN.

Even stores for plus-size women dance around the issue of size by creating their own elaborate systems, she said. ``They're not going to say you're a size 34. Instead you're a size 'Q' or whatever.''

It's all psychological, said Woodland Hills resident Dana Rebibo, who finds the sizes run bigger at stores like Express than at places like Abercrombie & Fitch.

``It's all a game to get people in the stores,'' Rebibo said.

Stores catering to older women are notorious for making their sizes roomier, said Alyce Akers, chair of the Family and Consumer Sciences at CSUN.

``Women who have a higher discretionary income want to think of themselves as smaller - and they can afford to pay for it,'' Akers said. ``And the brand is playing to that.''

Just how retailers conjure up sizing systems remains a mystery to women who keep mental records of what numerical fit they are at various stores. Despite the confusion created by this lack of a standard, Owens said it's not likely retailers will pin down sizing to an exact science of inches anytime soon. Past attempts by industry groups to pursue standardization haven't materialized, she said.

Part of the difficulty stems from the fact that women's shapes and curves vary so dramatically that it's hard to mass produce clothes tailored in exact inches, Owens said. Instead, clothes for women are often made with a built-in degree of looseness to fit a variety of body types.

A number of model sizes float around in the industry; even major manufacturers don't go by any hard and fast standard.

At Dress Barn, where sizes range from 2 to 24, shoppers can expect a more generous cut, said Veronica Valladares, assistant vice president of marketing.

That doesn't mean the chain is ``sizing up'' to make women feel better about themselves, Valladares said. The company simply uses a ``normal'' sized model that represents the average woman, she said.

``Our bodies are different; an adult woman is simply not going to have the same slim little narrow hips as a teenager,'' Valladares said. She declined to give the company's dimensions on a size 6.

Clothes may be looser this fall at the trendy Forever 21, but spokeswoman Kristi Dunn said the biggest numerical size is still a 13. The idea isn't to trick women into thinking they're smaller than they are, she said, but simply to fit women's shapely bodies better.

It's typical for a store to make a size looser-fitting rather than offering sizes in bigger numbers, Owens said. The latter accommodation could turn some shoppers off.

The result of the vague, arbitrary system is that many women grab a variety of sizes and resort to trial and error when searching for the right fit. Though it may seem brutal to crystallize women's size into an exact science, Akers said it could help the industry and frustrated shoppers.

What happens right now is that many women end up learning where to shop for their size by experience.

Owens, who is 5 feet 10 inches, returns to Land's End brand regularly because of the length of the company's pants. Women who have similar physical traits start bonding over the stores that carry clothes that fit them, she said.

``You start figuring out where to go,'' she said. ``Like everybody who wears size 10 shoes likes Nordstrom and talks about where else they shop.''

Despite the inconvenience, O'Brien said she prefers the arbitrary system to being measured in exact inches.

``Otherwise it's just too brutal,'' she said.

Candice Choi, [phone]

candice.choi(at)dailynews.com

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Forever 21 has increased the roominess in their clothes this year, but still only offers fashions up to size 13.

(2 -- 3 -- color) Above, shoppers may find tags on women's clothing deceptive, as measurements for numerical sizes vary from store to store and from designer to designer. At left, Lauren White of Los Feliz and Lauren Clark of West Hollywood discover that a Forever 21 skirt runs small.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer